The U.S. government issued new rules Thursday to upgrade the safety of deep-water oil drilling following the massive BP oil spill.

But regulators retained a 5-month-old moratorium on deep-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico despite heavy lobbying by industry and Louisiana economic boosters who want the moratorium lifted.

"We are raising the bar for safety, oversight and environmental protection," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a speech announcing the rules. He said they'll reduce the likelihood of other spills. He also said the moratorium won't be lifted until he's sure that the risks of deep-water drilling have been "significantly reduced."

The moratorium, issued in May, is set to expire Nov. 30. Officials have said it may be lifted earlier. The industry had hoped for some sign of that Thursday, says Eric Smith, oil and gas expert at Tulane University.

What it got was "the prospect of more delays" as federal regulators gear up to administer new rules, Smith says. Nov. 30 will mark the beginning of a second "de facto" moratorium, Smith says, because it will take so long to get permits.

Environmentalists hailed the new rules as necessary to minimize the risk of future accidents. But industry representatives said they mirror already-in-place best practices of leading companies.

"Our companies meet most of these, or have been working to meet them" since many were first discussed in June, says Richard Ranger, senior policy adviser for the American Petroleum Institute.

The rules address many criticisms of how BP drilled and secured the Gulf of Mexico well, which spilled 200 million gallons of oil into the waters before it was capped in mid-July.

Among other things, the rules require independent third-party verification that a well is properly cemented to prevent gas leaks, which occurred and led to the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig and the ensuing spill.

The rules also require that equipment intended to prevent a well blowout is strong enough to do the job. Such equipment, the last defense against a well blowout and spill, failed on the BP well in 5,000 feet of water.

The moratorium, instituted after the spill began, idled several dozen rigs in the Gulf, which accounts for 30% of the USA's domestic oil production. At least two rigs, which employ hundreds of people, then left the Gulf for work in other countries.

More rigs, and companies that service the rigs, may leave, too, if the permit process doesn't resume soon, Ranger says. "Every day (the moratorium) stays in place, it exerts an economic penalty on the region and the nation."

So far, the Obama administration says job losses from the moratorium have been nil because BP hired so many people to help with the cleanup. Louisiana officials had earlier estimated that a six-month moratorium could cost 10,000 jobs.

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